Structural and Functional Characterization of the Newly Designed Antimicrobial Peptide Crabrolin21.

(1) Background: antimicrobial resistance is becoming a dramatic problem for public health, and the design of new antimicrobial agents is an active research area. (2) Methods: based on our previous work, we designed an improved version of the crabrolin peptide and characterized its functional and structural properties with a wide range of techniques. (3) Results: the newly designed peptide, crabrolin21, is much more active than the previous ones and shows specific selectivity towards bacterial cells.

Solution structure of the anticancer p28 peptide in biomimetic medium.

The p28 peptide derived from Pseudomonas aeruginosa azurin shows an anticancer activity after binding to p53 protein and is currently in Phase I of clinical trials. We have studied its structure in water and in a biomimetic media and show that the peptide is unstructured in water but when studied in a biomimetic medium assumes a structure very similar to the one observed in azurin, suggesting a high propensity of this peptide to maintain this secondary structure. Analysis of p28 sequences from different bacterial species indicates conservation of the secondary structure despite amino acid replacement in different positions, suggesting that others, similar peptides could be tested for binding to p53.

Functionalized Organosolv Lignins Suitable for Modifications of Hard Surfaces.

Two different organosolv lignins (OSLs), that is, wheat straw and corn stover OSLs, were chemically and enzymatically functionalized. Functional groups were attached via the formation of stable ether bonds exploiting the reactivity of free phenolic OH groups along the lignin backbone. The functional groups introduced a range from compact charged and chargeable building blocks for the generation of surface-active lignins to oligomeric and polymeric species used in lignin block-copolymer productions.

Age- and gender-specific epistasis between ADA and TNF-α influences human life-expectancy.

Aging is a complex phenotype with multiple determinants but a strong genetic component significantly impacts on survival to extreme ages. The dysregulation of immune responses occurring with increasing age is believed to contribute to human morbidity and mortality. Conversely, some genetic determinants of successful aging might reside in those polymorphisms for the immune system genes regulating immune responses.

APOE haplotypes are associated with human longevity in a Central Italy population: evidence for epistasis with HP 1/2 polymorphism.

Background: Apolipoprotein E (APOE) functional haplotypes determined by rs429358 and rs7412 SNPs have been extensively studied and found to be one of the most consistent association in human longevity studies. However, the search for longevity-determining genes in human has largely neglected the operation of genetic interactions.

Methods: APOE haplotypes have been determined for 1072 unrelated healthy individuals from Central Italy, 18-106 years old, divided into three gender-specific age classes defined according to demographic information and accounting for the different survival between sexes.

Haptoglobin (HP) polymorphisms and human longevity: a cross-sectional association study in a Central Italy population.

Background: Haptoglobin (HP), which scavenges free, cell-toxic hemoglobin and has anti-inflammatory and immune-modulatory function in extravascular tissues, may represent an excellent candidate gene to investigate the life-span expectancy.

Methods: HP 1/2 polymorphism has been determined for 1072 (569 females, 503 males) unrelated healthy individuals from Central Italy, 18-106 years old, divided into three gender-specific age classes defined according to demographic information and accounting for the different survivals between sexes. HP*1F/S subtyping was also performed to check the possible existence for a preferential advantage of HP*1F or HP*1S allele.